Book pays homage to simple hand tools

July 13, 2001|By Michael Keegan, The Washington Post.

Were there any mysterious items in your granddad's well-worn old tool chest whose purpose you've never quite been able to figure out? "Classic Hand Tools" by Garrett Hack will dispel some of the mystery about how those old implements were used and why some people, including non-woodworkers, cherish them in this era of cordless electrics (Taunton Press, 218 pp., $34.95).

As a power-tool user, I often wondered why anyone would bother much with hand tools anymore. Then one day in my workshop (read garage), I found that the bottom of a mortise could be cleaned thoroughly only by using one of my very sharp, but seldom used, wood chisels. I was amazed at how easy it was. OK, I get it: The hand tool can still do some things best.

Hack well knows the value of hand tools, and his love affair with them is obvious in this, his second book on the subject. The Vermont-based author is a professional furniture-maker, tool collector and, as is it turns out, quite an interesting writer.

This is a book to feed a romantic, sawdust-on-the-floor vision of woodworking. Even if you opted for typing over shop class in eighth grade, it is hard not to get seduced by the mix of rich photographs, folksy tool history and clear explanations of why these simple devices are so darned useful. This book makes simple tools simply irresistible.

"Step back 3,500 years and hand a modern saw to an Egyptian carpenter," Hack writes. "He might remark about its flexibility, its sharp teeth, and the unusual material for the handle (plastic), but he would know exactly how to use it. . .. Fundamental designs have changed little over the centuries."

This is a coffee-table book, but why let it go to waste sitting there? It could be put to better use out in your workshop dispensing practical advice. For example, many helpful sidebars tell, among other things, how to buy used chisels (look for good steel and reliable manufacturers), how to replace a hatchet handle, how to sharpen a cross-cut saw properly and what you should bring if you attend a used-tool auction (money, of course, but also a combination square and a flat screwdriver to examine the quality of what you might bid on). "Disassemble a tool if need be to see all its details," Hack writes. "Even the best price is no bargain if the tool is unusable."

Chapters are organized around cutting tools, measuring and marking devices, planes and scrapers, drills and augers, etc. And homage is paid to the most important tool in the woodshop: the workbench. John S. Sheldon's first-rate photography complements the high graphic design standards of the Taunton Press, which publishes many books on woodworking, as well as, more famously, Fine Woodworking and Fine Homebuilding magazines.